Divorce finalizes one chapter of your life, but without a deliberate review of your estate plan, Washington State law may leave your former spouse in control of your assets, your healthcare decisions, and your financial accounts.
Key Takeaways:
- Washington law automatically revokes will provisions in favor of a former spouse after divorce, but most beneficiary designations, including retirement accounts and life insurance, are not affected by state law and must be updated manually.
- Federal ERISA law governs employer-sponsored retirement accounts, meaning a former spouse named as beneficiary on a 401(k) can still inherit those funds even after divorce if the designation is not changed.
- A complete post-divorce estate plan review should cover your will, revocable living trust, power of attorney, healthcare directive, and every account with a named beneficiary.
Most people walk away from a divorce with a clear sense of what they’ve divided: the house, the retirement accounts, the custody arrangement. What doesn’t always make the list is the estate plan, and that gap can cause serious problems years down the line.
Washington State does provide some automatic protections when a marriage ends. But those protections are narrower than most people assume, and the documents they don’t cover can quietly keep a former spouse in a position of significant legal authority over your life and your assets.
Washington Law and Your Will
Under Washington’s revocation statute, a divorce or annulment automatically revokes any provisions in your will that benefit a former spouse, including their nomination as executor. In plain terms: if your will left everything to your spouse and named them to administer your estate, those provisions are treated as if your ex-spouse died before you once the divorce is finalized.
Washington extends similar protections to revocable living trusts, automatically revoking trust provisions that benefited a former spouse upon divorce.
These are meaningful protections. But they apply only to wills and certain trust provisions. The moment you step outside those two documents, the automatic revocation rule stops applying, and most estates are not limited to just a will and a trust.
Where Do Automatic Protections Stop?
Beneficiary designations operate under a completely different set of rules. Life insurance policies, retirement accounts, payable-on-death bank accounts, and transfer-on-death investment accounts all pass to whoever is named on the beneficiary form, regardless of what your will says, regardless of whether you’re divorced, and regardless of Washington State law.
This is where things get genuinely complicated. Most employer-sponsored retirement accounts, like 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and pension plans, are governed by federal ERISA law, not state law. A landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision confirmed that ERISA preempts state statutes, which means Washington’s automatic revocation rule does not apply to these accounts. If your former spouse is still listed as the beneficiary on your 401(k), they will likely receive those funds when you die, even if your divorce decree specifically awarded those funds to someone else.
This isn’t theoretical. It happens regularly, and the results are often irreversible by the time the issue surfaces.
Documents to Review and Update After Divorce
A thorough post-divorce estate plan review means going through every document and account that carries your name. Here’s what that typically covers:
- Your Will
Even though Washington law treats your former spouse as predeceased for purposes of your will, the document still reflects your old life. If your ex-spouse was your primary or contingent beneficiary, your executor, or your guardian nomination for minor children, a revised will addresses all of that directly rather than relying on the automatic revocation rule to fill in the gaps. A new will also gives you the opportunity to appoint a trusted person to administer your estate and to update how assets will be distributed.
- Your Revocable Living Trust
If you established a trust during your marriage, the trust agreement likely names your spouse as successor trustee and as a beneficiary. Washington law addresses the spousal distribution provisions, but the trustee nomination and any other references to your former spouse should be revised directly rather than left to operate under the default rule. Our estate planning overview provides more context on how trusts function as part of a complete plan.
- Beneficiary Designations
- This is the most time-sensitive update. Review the named beneficiaries on:
- Life insurance policies (individual and employer-sponsored)
- 401(k), 403(b), IRA, and pension accounts
- Payable-on-death bank accounts
- Transfer-on-death investment and brokerage accounts
- Health savings accounts (HSAs)
Each of these requires a separate update directly with the financial institution or plan administrator. A divorce decree does not automatically change these designations, and a will cannot override them.
- Durable Power of Attorney
A power of attorney gives someone legal authority to manage your financial and legal affairs if you become incapacitated. A new power of attorney naming someone you currently trust is a necessary step.
- Healthcare Directive and Healthcare Proxy
Your advance directive outlines your wishes for medical care if you cannot communicate them. Your healthcare proxy is the person authorized to make medical decisions on your behalf. If your former spouse is named in either document, those designations need to be replaced. Washington’s revocation statute does not extend to healthcare directives. Our wills and probate resources cover how these documents work together as part of a complete post-divorce review.
When to Make These Updates
The most straightforward answer: as soon as the divorce is final, and in some cases, before it is. Washington courts can issue temporary orders during divorce proceedings that restrict changes to certain accounts, so it’s worth confirming what you’re permitted to update during the process itself.
Once the decree is entered, the clock starts. There is no grace period for beneficiary designations, and there is no automatic notification system that alerts your financial institutions that a divorce occurred. The responsibility for updating those designations falls entirely on you.
If circumstances change after the divorce, like a new relationship, a child born or adopted, a significant asset acquired, you need to revisit the plan again. Estate planning after divorce is not a one-time task. It should keep pace with your actual life.
Remarrying After Divorce
If you remarry, your estate plan needs another full review. A new spouse does not automatically inherit anything in Washington unless your documents say so, and a plan built around a prior marriage won’t reflect the family you have now. If you have children from a prior relationship and remarry, a trust structure is often the most effective way to provide for both your current spouse and those children without leaving either out.
View Ridge Law: Post-Divorce Estate Planning Across the Seattle Area
Updating your estate plan after divorce is one of those tasks that feels like it can wait. By the time it can’t, correcting the problem is often out of reach.
View Ridge Law’s team brings over 150 years of combined legal experience to estate planning matters across King and Snohomish Counties. Our collaborative approach means your plan benefits from multiple perspectives, not just one attorney working in isolation. Founder Mackenzie Sorich, JD, is a best-selling author and a recognized voice in Washington estate law, and our award-winning team is built around being accessible, thorough, and genuinely invested in the outcomes we help our clients reach.
If your divorce is final and your estate plan still reflects your old life, contact View Ridge Law to schedule a consultation. The sooner the review happens, the cleaner the path forward.
